Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
-With files from MRU Athletics
CALGARY – Clutch points eluded the MacEwan Griffins men's volleyball team in a 3-1 loss to the Mount Royal University Cougars on Friday night.
Three of the four sets could have gone either way in a 25-16, 27-29, 25-23, 26-24 result, as the Griffins put a lot of solid volleyball on tape and had plenty of chances to gain a better fortune on the evening, but the finishing act wasn't there.
Various things cost them late in sets, which makes it even tougher to fix.
"I think that's where the frustrating thing is," said MacEwan head coach Brad Poplawski. "It's not just one thing that we can work on. It seems to be a number of things or different things at different times.
"Maybe to use a hockey analogy we're squeezing the sticks at times. Maybe we want it so bad that we're too dug in on defence, we're not as mobile and can't move."
Despite the match being MacEwan's first in 48 days, it was eerily similar to their last – a straight sets defeat to Alberta on Dec. 4 where the Griffins were close in every set, but no cigar.
"It was the story of our last couple of matches – going extras and then losing by two – going back to the U of A weekend that happened," said Poplawski whose squad falls to 1-8 on the Canada West campaign.
MRU dominated the first set, at one point leading 17-9, before finishing the set 25-16.
"Obviously, the first set today we weren't very good, but the guys responded and won the second," said Poplawski. "The third set, we had a good lead late in the set and let it slip and ended up losing. Then the same thing in the fourth set. We were up 16-13 at the technical (timeout) and 19-18, and then just couldn't close it out.
"These are expensive lessons and painful lessons, if I'm being honest."
But there were a fair lot of positives, too. Poplawski singled out the play of middle Carsten Bergeron, who finished with seven kills on a .312 hitting percentage and two blocks.
"Both him and Jonah (Karsten) did some good stuff," said Poplawski. "Carsten put up some good numbers and was really effective at the net. Mount Royal has Luis Lange, one of the best middles in the conference and the country. It's a tough matchup for both our guys and they did a really good job at times. I thought that was good to see because that's a tough matchup."
Setter Alexander Lyndon had 39 assists and a match-high 13 digs for MacEwan while Alexei Walisser led the way with 14 kills and Jefferson Morrow chipped in 13.
MRU was led by Jacob Van Geel (17 kills) and Chris Byam (16 kills and five blocks), while setter Jackson Brennan came off the bench to change the momentum for the Cougars in the third set, finishing with 20 assists.
The teams will meet again on Saturday (5 p.m., Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
